


holding out for a hero

by strawberryfire



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Harringrove, M/M, OKAY HE JUST IS, Post-Canon Fix It, billy is alive and well, cant change my mind, hes in the upside down
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-24
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2021-01-02 12:43:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,768
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21161864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strawberryfire/pseuds/strawberryfire
Summary: Steve & Max saving the idiot Billy Hargrove from the Upside Down.





	holding out for a hero

**Author's Note:**

> this was written mostly bc the stranger writers are fucking DICKS and have me tying up my clown shoes bc they got me thinking billy is alive and i stand by that statement.
> 
> i did draw a lil scene of max from this, go check it out on my tumblr :) thank you to my lovely followers who inspired me to write this (((even tho its shitty))))
> 
> t: harringrovesfawcettspray

_December, 1985_

The freezing chill of the Indiana wind blows harshly against the faces of the crowds of kids leaving Hawkins High. The sky and trees are all dull, lifeless. Max is stood beside Lucas, huddled under the warm sleeves of a denim jackets that was a little too big on her as they wait for Dustin and Mike.

Steve is waiting in the parking lot, not only for the kids but for Robin, as he kept the heat on full blast. Winter was _brutal_ so far and it wasn’t even near Christmas yet. Steve watches Max, as he had been doing since that night in July. Her cheeks are rosy red like her sweater and her eyes are as grey as the muted colors of the town. He and Lucas noticed more than anybody that a spark had died in her. No one in the party ever spoke about it. _Nobody_ ever asked her how she was doing, who the denim jacket belonged to.

Steve knew, though. He knew it was Billy’s. Knew that Steve wore it once on a April night at the quarry in the back of the Camero. Knows _exactly_ how it feels against bare skin, how it smells like smoke and shitty cologne. He knew that Billy cherished that jacket and that he would be pissed to see Max wearing it.

Steve knew a lot of things, but couldn’t begin to talk about it all.

Robin walks out and meets the shivering group of freshmen at the front of the school, laughing about how ridiculous they look as they make their way to Steve’s beemer. They all pile in, sighing at the warmth of the car.

“God, it’s like an ice box out there.” Robin huffs, pulling her clarinet case into her lap.

Dustin’s teeth chatter, “I bet it’s as cold as the Upside Down.”

Steve laughs a little, “Yeah, probably. How was school?”

“Grody, dude. Biology is kicking my ass.” Lucas says as he rubs his hands together.

Dustin just shakes his head, “Biology is so easy, man.”

Mike pokes Dustin’s arm, “To you it is, nerd.”

Dustin rolls his eyes, “You’re just jealous.”

“Oh yeah, totally.”

Max is silent among the boys bickering and Robin frowns as she looks back at the redhead.

“How was your day, Max?” Robin asks.

Max looks up, smiling a little, “It was alright. Aced my biology test.”

Robin smiles back, “Radical.”

Steve laughs to himself at how it was like him and Robin were these kids parents, but parents that actually _cared_ about their kids well being. Steve knew he couldn’t help Max, not the way he wanted to. He couldn’t bring Billy back, but Steve could at least try to fill the empty hole left in Max’s life and the piece of his own heart that was missing.

Steve parks at his house, which is empty as per usual. His parents would be stuck in Chicago for the better part of December, as usual. He would probably spend his holiday at Robin’s house, which he was content with because the Buckley’s were these incredibly kind hippies straight out of Woodstock. He loved them to death.

As the kids settle down in the living room and stop arguing like the teens they were, Robin takes Steve aside in the kitchen.

“Max looks more and more miserable every day. There’s got to be something we can do.” Robin murmurs.

Steve sighs and leans up against the counter, “Yeah, I know…but what are we supposed to say? That it’ll make sense one day?”

Robin shrugs, “Sure.”

Steve looks down at his feet and thinks about the million things he could say. He couldn’t do much, but words sometimes were worth more than actions. Just as he’s about to tell Robin something, Dustin shouts Steve’s name.

“What, man?”

“Your phone is ringing!”

Steve’s brain finally registers the ringing telephone and he answers, “Hello?”

No answer, just static.

Right before he hangs up, he hears a high pitched scream which he knew all too well was a demogorgan.

Then, a voice.

“Steve. I don’t know where the fuck I am, I think I’m in hell. I don’t know how I’m alive or if you can even hear me.“

More static and screaming.

“Steve can you hear me?” Billy repeats.

Steve’s in shock and he feels his chest tightening up, “I can hear you.”

The kids eyes widen, looking at Steve confused.

“Where…what’s around you?”

“The mall.”

“I…okay…”

“Haul your ass over here, Harrington!” Billy shouts before there’s a bang and the screaming stops. The static becomes unbearable and it drowns out whatever else Billy says.

Steve puts the phone back on the wall and stares in disbelief.

“What, or who, the hell was that?” Dustin asks.

Steve continues to stand there, silent.

Robin pokes his cheek, “Dingus. Earth to Steve. Harrington.”

“_Billy_.”

Robin stops, “What?”

“It was Billy.”

Steve sees Max tear up, “Don’t pull that bullshit, Steve. It’s not funny.”

“It’s not bullshit. I think he’s in the Upside Down.”

“Stop lying!”

“Max, I’m not lying. Friends. Don’t. Lie.”

Whatever string that was holding Max together snaps. She busts out sobbing and Steve rushes to her side, holding her to his chest.

“I thought it was fake! He calls all the time, I can never hear him. I thought it was a prank or…or just…I don’t know, it’s been happening for months and I just ignored it. I’ve ignored him this whole time!”

Steve rubs her back, “Maxie, it’s okay. It’s okay, he’s okay. He’s a badass, right?”

“Also a dick.” Dustin mutters.

Steve death glares at him then gestures to Max who was still crying and mouths, “Really?”

Dustin looks down and doesn’t say anything more.

She calms down and wipes her eyes, “Sorry.”

“Don’t say sorry, we should be the ones apologizing. We should have been helping you through all of…this.”

Max just sighs, “Not really much that you could do.” She messes with the cuffs of the jacket and gives a little laugh, “It doesn’t smell like him anymore. I try to spray it with his cologne but it’s not the same. I…I’m sorry he treated you all like shit. But you see…he just…he was lonely y’know? His dad…_Jesus Christ,_ he’s such a _dick_.”

Steve nods, because he knows.

“Neil doesn’t hit me. I think he’s scared of me. I screamed at him back in July because he wanted to move everything out of Billy’s room. I just screamed and screamed, _begging_ him to keep it exactly the way it was. Luckily my mom was on my side so it’s still there. Everything, exactly the way he left it. Sometimes I sit on his bed and talk. Talk to the walls, thinking about what they’ve seen. I talk about California, the beach, the boardwalk. How perfect it used to be.” Max reaches up the necklace around her neck that she took off Billy before they hauled him away that night. “I can talk and dream all I want but it’s like…he’s not perfect. Billy was a dick and he hurt me but never too badly. Just yelled at me, which doesn’t scare me. I’ve had plenty of shitty dads—never a shitty brother. But Billy was _different_.”

Steve nods again and murmurs, “Yeah he was.”

“He is.” Lucas says, standing up and grabbing his slingshot, “He is. Stop using past tense. He’s alive in that shithole and we need to go get him.”

Max looks up at him with a smile slowly creeping across her face, “Yeah. Yeah we do.”

—

They’re all packed in Steve’s beemer again, driving to the mall. It had been closed off until recently, where it now stood abandoned and falling apart. It was terrifying, honestly.

“Okay here’s the plan. Robin, you’ll stand outside with the boys to make sure nobody comes in or that no demogorgans escape. There’s gotta be a gate somewhere.”

Robin just nods, since she still doesn’t really understand this Upside Down bullshit.

“I’ll go in with Max, alright?”

They all nod and Steve parks in the back of the mall. Something inside his chest tightens again and he can’t tell if it’s anxiety, nerves or dread or all three at once.

Steve knows a lot of things, including all the times Billy snuck in the back hallway behind Scoops during Steve’s breaks to talk about how much their lives sucked. Billy knew that he was in love with Steve Harrington and that no one could ever figure them out. They would spend nights in Steve’s pool, but Steve never got in and Billy knew why. He knew a lot of things, too.

Billy sits alone in the cold and desolate wasteland. His chest is hurting more than normal and his leg feels like it’s on fire. The mall is deathly silent as he sits on the Scoops Ahoy counter, gun in hand. He assumed it belonged to that Wheeler girl.

Billy had no idea if Steve or Max actually heard him when he called them. He was praying they did. It was a pain to get to the phone booth since it was outside, but he was always in pain so it didn’t really matter.

In the real world, Steve walks in with the kids through a broken door, going through the empty halls.

“Ah, just like the good old days.” Dustin jokes.

Mike laughs, “Will always hated sneaking in, he was afraid he’d get caught.”

Lucas raises an eyebrow, “You were too.”

“Bullshit.”

“Mhmm, I totally believe you.”

Max’s has a look on her face that’s borderline scary as she’s clutching Steve’s nail bat so tightly her knuckles are white. There’s a fire behind her eyes that’s burning so hot it’s blue. Lucas tries to get her in on the boys joking, but she shoots him a glare and he flinches.

They walk up to Scoops Ahoy, which brings a bit of nostalgia to the group. Max thinks about the one very rare occasion that Billy took her here for her birthday in June and bought her whatever she wanted. He complained about having to spend his paycheck on her which made her feel bad, but he insisted minutes later it was okay. He got her ice cream, some new clothes and a watch. She thinks about that in Gap, Billy held up a t-shirt with rainbow stripes on it and he had this knowing grin across his face, saying it was perfect for her. She remembers her whole face burning up and Billy just laughing. He knew and she was terrified, but he never said a word that day. The same day he first met El at Max’s birthday party and that night when she left, Billy knew.

Max knows damn well that he would know also how lonely and heartbroken she was now that El had moved to Missouri. Max couldn’t wait to just spill her guts to Billy, to tell him everything she had kept a secret since that day in July.

Max goes ahead of them and opens up the sliding windows to reveal the gate on the back door. The whole room is filled with black veins and floating dust.

Max pulls a bandana over her mouth, “C’mon.”

Lucas looks at her, “Are you sure you wanna do this?”

“Is that even a question?” She snaps.

He throws his hands up in surrender, “Alright, alright, sorry.”

Steve ties his red bandana and puts on his gloves, “If we die in there, tell my dad I hate him.”

Robin rolls her eyes, “Alright, dingus.”

Dustin ties a rope to the belt loop of Steve’s jeans then another one to the sleeve of Max’s jacket. Steve is scared out of his mind, but hid it, as he was literally stepping into the unknown.

Max, however, was acting like she had done this before and had never been scared of anything in her life.

Dustin sighs and crosses his arms, “Well, best of luck.”

Steve salutes to them then walk through the nasty sticky shit with Max into the Upside Down. Instead of being inside the mall, they were standing at the front.

Max scans around, looking for demodogs, “He said he was in the mall?”

“Yeah. I couldn’t make out what else he was saying.”

They make their way inside and to their horror, the mind flayer is laying motionless in the center.

“Holy shit.” Max whispers.

“If that thing wakes up…”

“It won’t.”

Max looks up and sees Billy standing on the opposite side. Her breath is ripped out of her throat and she drops the bat in shock, “Billy…?” She whispers.

He smiles, really smiles, “I promise it won’t. It’s dead as all get out. Gives me the heebee jeebees, though. All this shit does.”

Max cries hard and runs into her brothers arms, clinging to him like her life depended on it.

He stands there holding her (Steve swears he sees Billy press a kiss to the top of her head) for a few minutes before she gets angry, pushing at his chest, “I’m sorry? I’m sorry! That’s what you say?”

“I know…I know. I didn’t know what else to do. I don’t even know how I’m here. I just woke up and you were gone. I just…I didn’t want you hurt.”

Billy reaches his hand up to the faded scar on her forehead and he lets out a pensive sigh, “Fuck. Fuck, Max.”

“Billy it’s okay…it wasn’t you. I promise.” She cups his face and smiles, “You’re okay.“

A few minute silence then, “You’re wearing my jacket.”

She moves her hands away and looks down, “I’m sorry…” She goes to take it off and Billy stops her.

“You’re wearing my jacket.” He repeats, with fondness in his voice.

Max pulls sleeves back up and crosses her arms across her chest, “Yeah, whatever. It’s cold.”

“I think it suits you, ya little shit.” He ruffles her hair and she smiles ear to ear, something Steve hadn’t seen in months.

Max clings to him again, hugging him tightly and he makes a noise, “Oww, be careful. My sides hurt.”

She mumbles and loosens her grip.

Billy’s eyes catch Steve’s, who’s shivering and clinging onto the bat, waiting for that monster to jump up and eat him alive.

“Am I dreaming or is that you, Harrington?”

Steve gives a half hearted laugh, “Yeah, it’s me. Don’t cream your pants.”

Steve very slowly walks over to where he’s standing.

“That thing won’t hurt you, Steve. It’s dead.”

“You don’t know that, it could be dormant. Y’know like a volcano.”

“I promise, it’s fine. Also, you look ridiculous. Like, yellow gloves? What are you a housewife now?”

“Oh shut up. You don’t know what kinda diseases are down here.”

Billy laughs and shakes his head, “You’re an idiot, Steve Harrington.”

And yeah, maybe Steve was trying to fight back the tears that were begging to escape. Maybe he was fighting back the urge just to kiss Billy silly and just tell Max to keep her mouth shut.

Billy steps forward, Max clinging to his side and she looks up at them, a smirk on her face.

Steve pushes her head back a little, “Whatcha smirking’ at, Mayfield?”

“Not a damn thing.”

Out of nowhere, Billy cups Steve’s face and kisses him. Max gasps and awes quietly.

“It’s been so hard.” Steve whispers, “So fucking hard acting like everything’s been okay and I don’t care. I’m so sorry that I just…just left you. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“Stevie, you did what you could. You couldn’t have saved me then, but you’re saving me now, right?”

“Right.” Steve says with a grin.

—

Back at Steve’s house, Billy takes one of the nicest and most refreshing showers he’s ever had in his life. The group of brats treat him kindly, asking if he needs anything as he sits on Steve’s couch by the fire.

Max refuses to leave her brothers side, and refuses to take off his jacket. Billy tells them stories about how he had to fight off these “flower dogs” which he later learned were called demogorgans. He was sore and weak, every bone is body was aching. But his heart was steady, steady as the California waves, because Max was asleep with her head on his lap and Steve was sitting beside him, a smile on his face.

“Thanks for being my hero, pretty boy.”

Steve laughs and rests his head down on Billy’s shoulder, “You’re welcome, shitbird.”


End file.
